Dear Revealer readers,

I am writing this letter soon after the eight-day festival of Passover concluded, as many Christians celebrated Easter, and as the month of Ramadan is about to begin. My mind, though, has not been on holidays. While my husband and I participated in a virtual Passover seder with friends, my thoughts have been preoccupied by other matters. Presently, I am eager to see if the COVID-19 vaccines bring an end to the pandemic, or if new variants and Americans’ unwillingness to wear masks and physically distance will prevent us from living like those in Australia, New Zealand, and Vietnam where the virus is under control. My thoughts have also been on the recent gun violence in the United States, especially the shootings in Atlanta where a white evangelical man targeted Asian women because he blamed them for the problems of his so-called sex addiction. And I have been concerned by the spate of tornadoes that have wreaked havoc throughout the American South, occurring so early – in late winter and the start of spring – as yet another symptom of our planet’s climate crisis.

Revealer Editor, Brett Krutzsch

The constant bombardment of pressing matters is the focus of the Revealer‘s April issue. The issue opens with Bradley Onishi’s “God is Ultimate Masculinity: Evangelical Visions of Manhood in the Wake of the Atlanta Massacre,” where he recounts the messages he learned as an adolescent, and then as a pastor, in evangelical megachurches about becoming a tough Christian man and how he sees resonances of those teachings in the recent Atlanta killing spree. Next, as the climate crisis worsens, the U.S. government and several billionaires have invested tremendous resources to travel to the Moon and Mars. In “The New Corporate Space Race,” Mary-Jane Rubenstein explores how the efforts to take over Mars represent a repackaged Manifest Destiny where often white Westerners believe they have the right to spread their dominion over the entire universe.

As scientists explore life beyond our planet, the United States is contending with a sizable population that doubts science and believes bogus internet conspiracy theories about vaccines and the “threat” of immigration. In the newest installment of his column “From the Margins,” Daniel José Camacho reflects in “The Internet’s Unofficial Patron Saint,” on a Church leader from centuries ago who wrote a much-read, and profoundly biased, encyclopedia and considers the process by which people historically and presently have embraced false information. Next, in an excerpt from Prosperity Gospel Latinos and Their American Dream, Tony Tian-Ren Lin explores what Prosperity Gospel Pentecostalism offers to Latino immigrants, many of whom have faced nightmarish situations.

The April issue also considers the place of religious leadership within challenging times such as these. In “Malcolm X: Why El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Matters,” Sara Kamali explores Malcolm X’s teachings during the last ten months of his life after he converted to Sunni Islam and how those teachings can help us address today’s problems of racial injustice.

Our April issue also includes the newest episode of the Revealer podcast: “Latino Americans and the Popularity of Prosperity Gospel Pentecostalism.” Tony Tian-Ren Lin joins us to explain what the Prosperity Gospel entails, why it has been appealing to Latino Americans, and how the Prosperity Gospel gives people a feeling of control over their lives – particularly in the face of profound structural inequalities. You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.

As we face the horrors of gun violence, toxic masculinity, racism, the climate crisis, and conspiracy theory-believers, I hope this issue’s articles give you insights into the inner workings of the many problems we must confront. Rather than paralyze you with fear, I hope these articles offer you thoughts on how to act. Our responsibility to take on these issues reminds me of one of the last lines I read at this year’s Passover seder, from the Talmud: “It is not incumbent upon us to finish the task of perfecting the world, but neither may we refrain from beginning it.”

Yours in hope,
Brett Krutzsch, Ph.D.